John William Baier's
_Compendium of Positive Theology_
Edited by C. F. W. Walther
Published by:
St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1877
[Translator's Preface. These are the major loci or topics of
John William Baier's _Compendium of Positive Theology_ as ed-
ited by Dr. C. F. W. Walther. These should be seen as the
broad outline of Baier-Walther's dogmatics, but please don't
assume that this is all. Each locus usually includes copious
explanatory notes and citations from patristics and other
Lutheran dogmaticians.]
Part One
Chapter One
On God.
1. We commonly understand by the name "God" a being, most excellent
of all things, than whom no one is actually able to consider better;
or rather the first thing, that by him also he is the cause of all
beings of other things, and he preserves and governs all things.
2. Among the names of God, of which many occur in the Scriptures of
the Old Testament, the name of YHWH stands out as essential and
unspeakable.
3. Similarly the Greek name "God" [theos], understood in a proper
sense, not as if it were simply a name of dignity, is also the name
of the divine nature.
4. It is possible for the existence of God to be shown; (1) from a
consideration of this universe, (2) from the testimony of the
conscience and (3) from the consensus of people's testimonies, both
Gentiles and Christians.
5. However, that it might be rightly understood what God is, and
who he is, that which applies to the divine essence and attributes,
and that which applies to the divine persons, ought to be distinctly
seen and proved from Scripture.
6. The essence of God is able to be described thus: God is a
spiritual being subsisting by himself; or more briefly: God is an
independent spirit.
7. The divine attributes are divided into negative and positive.
The negative attributes are: unity, simplicity, immutability,
infinity, immensity, eternity. The following pertain to the class
of positive attributes: life, knowledge, wisdom, holiness, justice,
truthfulness, power, goodness, perfection.
8. The unity of God, when spoken of absolutely says that the
essence of God is undivided, when spoken of exclusively says that
we recognize God to be the only god, besides whom there is no other.
9. The simplicity of God, spoken of absolutely, is that through
which God is truly and really free from all composition.
10. The immutability of God consists in this, that God is subject
to no change neither according to being, nor according to accidents,
nor according to place, nor according to will or purpose.
11. The infinity of God's essence indicates this, that the essence
of God is contained by no limits.
12. The immensity of God consists in this, that the divine essence
is not able to be measured or encompassed by any limit.
13. The eternity of God, speaking absolutely, indicates the
permanent existence or duration of God, without beginning and end
and without any succession or change.
14. The life of God, seen in the first act, indicates about the
essence or nature of God, that he himself moves by a certain mode,
or he is able to be received as a principal of vital or immanent
operation; in the second act, it indicates that immanent operation
that proceeds from the divine nature.
15. The knowledge of God consists in this, that God by one single
act knows himself and other things that are distinct from him,
which are, and which are possible to be, everything according to
his own proper being which it may have in itself outside of God,
knowing immediately through himself, without an intelligible
species or discourse; on the contrary he knows not only those
things which exist in truth or are visible, or from the necessity
of nature, or contingently, through the free determination of the
human will, but he also exactly understands those things which will
be, if a condition is satisfied ins some way, which are however not
future in acts, because the condition is not yet fulfilled.
16. The wisdom of God indicates the most careful counsel of God, by
which he changes all causes and effects distinctly in an admirable
way to arrange and set them in order according to his goal.
17. Before we move forward to a consideration of the other
attributes, something should be said about the will of God, or, in
so far as the divine essence has itself through a mode of
appetitive power, the ability by a recognition of the intellect to
tend toward good, so that it wills it, and a knowledge of the bad,
so that it avoids it.
18. The causes which formally cause the acts of the divine will are
not given, however virtually they are given as these causes:
efficient, impulsive both internal and external, and also final.
19. The will of God is distinguished as being natural and free. God
is said to will the natural will, in those things he is not able
not to will. He is said to will the free will, in those things
that is he also able not to will, or to will the opposite. The
former he is said to will by reason of himself, the later by reason
of the created thing.
20. The free will of God is distinguished (1) as efficient and
inefficient. The efficient free will is said to be that by which
God wills something to be done, the inefficient free will is that,
by which something is pleasing to God in himself, but which he does
not intend to effect. The efficient free will of God further is
divided into absolute by which God wills something without
condition, and conditional, by which he wills something under
conditions. (2) The free will of God is also divided into the
absolute, by which God wills something to be effected by his
absolute power, or not being bound to secondary causes; and the
ordered, by which God wills something to be effected, bound by his
order, or by the secondary causes and a certain order of means
instituted by him. (3) The free will of God is also distinguished
as primary, or antecedent free will, by which he wills something
from himself alone, or precisely from his natural inclination, and
not by the ordinary reason of circumstances; and the secondary, or
consequent free will, by which he wishes something by a
consideration of the circumstances, or in view of other causes and
conditions on the part of visible creatures, to whom he wills
something.
21. In a peculiar sense a decree of God may be said to be absolute,
when it excludes any consideration of an impulsive cause apart from
God, to which is opposed non-absolute decrees, which are decrees
when the external impulsive cause comes from outside of God and is
the virtual cause of the decree.
22. There is also a distinction in the will of God between the
signed and the well-pleased. The signed will of God is said to be
when the name of will is ascribed to the effect or the object of
the divine will, as by a sign of some will in God. The well-pleased
will of God indicates the act of the divine will itself, by which
God wills something. From there, it also extends to the fact that
the distinction is analogical. However being prepared, indeed the
signed will is of such a kind as you might imagine, to which the
well-pleased will is opposed, as a sign out of the institution
ought to signify.
23. Among the attributes of the will of come first comes justice,
by which God partly is just in himself, as we call him by the
special word sanctity, and it introduces the correctness of the
divine will, by which all things which are right and good, he wills
conformably to his eternal laws; partly in order to others, that is
that he prescribes to creatures the appropriate laws and he
arranges them and he governs, also he keeps and fulfills the
promises made to humans, and then the good are rewarded and the bad
punished.
24. The truthfulness of God follows, through which God is unchanging
in speaking truly and in keeping promises.
25. The power of God follows, through which the divine essence is
effective in working and producing something outside himself, and
indeed everything, whatever is possible in any way is made by his
power, and for the part of his operations it does not lead to
imperfection.
26. The power of God is usually distinguished as ordered and
absolute. The ordered power of God is said to be that power which
God by decree or law determines something to be worked in a certain
way. The absolute power of God is called that which is agreeable
to itself, and is not determined by some previous decree or law.
The ordered will of God one is able to resist, the absolute will of
God one is not able to resist.
27. The goodness of God agrees both absolutely and in itself, which
is itself his perfection, or the essence of God, in so far as he
contains all perfections in himself, or formally, or eminently; and
respectively, or in relation to creatures, to whom God is good, in
so far as efficiently he produces all created goodness; and this
created goodness is according to his perfection, which is an idea
or an example for created perfection; also he entices or moves love
and desire in his own, as something of the highest good.
28. Because it pertains to the divine persons, most simply it is
held, because the essence and all the perfections of the divine
being are common without division or multiplication, yet with these
there are three distinct persons, which Scripture calls Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.
29. To a more full declaration of this mystery it is observed: (I)
the Father from the Son, the Son from the Father, and the Holy
Spirit from both are really different, so that truly one is the
Father, another the Son, and another is the Holy Spirit.
30. Then (II) it is observed: Not only the Father, but also the Son
and the Holy Spirit are true and eternal God.
31. Then (III) it is observed: that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
are not three Gods, but one God.
32. In regard to this mystery so that the sophistries of the
heretics could more distinctly be shut out and excluded, the old
Christians said it in this way - the westerners or Latins that
there were three persons in one essence [tres personas in una
essentia), and the easterners or Greeks that there were three
hypostases and one ousia (treis upostaseis kai mian ousian); in
what manner the fathers of Nicea especially spoke about the Son,
they said that he was or ought to be recognized as homoousion
[omoousion] to the Father, that is coessential or consubstantial.
33. By the word essence or ousia is understood that divine nature,
such as is in God absolutely, which one divine nature is with the
attributes most simply one and only, and thus also when speaking of
the three persons it is nothing unless one divine nature.
34. By the word person or hypostasis is understood that some
underlying intelligence is understood, thus in this topic is
indicated that are three subsistences or personalities in one
divine essence, and so there are three underlying intelligences in
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
35. However, although Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not expressed
in Scripture as three hypostases, persons, or three substrates,
however the thing itself, indicated by these words, is certainly
included in Scripture.
36. However truly in this life we are not able to understand or
explain in what way one most simple essence is three persons, for
what reason they are able to be from itself one essence, yet among
itself they are really three distinct persons: however because it
is revealed we believe both.
37. Otherwise the divine persons are distinguished by personal acts,
by the personal properties, and conceptions.
38. The personal acts are two, generation and spiration.
39. The generation is an act inside of God, by which God the Father
from his substance from eternity produces the Son.
40. The spiration is an act inside of God, by which God the Father
and the Son at the same time from out of his substance from eternity
produce the Holy Spirit.
41. That there is a difference between the generation of the Son
and the spiration of the Holy Spirit is certain; however the way
in which they are different we are not able to define more fully.
42. The personal properties are three: Paternity, filiation and
procession (thus strictly speaking), or a passive spiration.
43. The conceptions specially thus said are two: the act of being
generated, and an active spiration.
44. The Father is the first person of the Divinity, not begotten,
not proceeding, but from eternity from his substance begetting the
Son, and with the Son from eternity breathing the Holy Spirit.
45. The Son is the second person of the Divinity, from eternity
begotten by the Father, from whom and with the person of the Father
proceeds from eternity the Holy Spirit.
46. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Divinity, not
begotten, but proceeding from eternity from the Father and the Son.
47. God by reason of the essence and persons seen at the same time
is able to be described as follows: that he is a spiritual being,
by himself, subsisting in Father, son, and Holy Spirit.
_________________________________.__________________________________
This text was translated by Rev. Theodore Mayes and is copyrighted
material, (c)1996, but is free for non-commercial use or distribu-
tion, and especially for use on Project Wittenberg. Please direct
any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther
Library at Concordia Theological Seminary.
E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu
Surface Mail: 66000 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA
Phone: (260) 452-2123 Fax: (260) 452-2126
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